Policies & guidance
This section contains links to a wide range of policy, legislation guidance and resources to support practitioners in their safeguarding role.
Care Act 2014
The law that people working with adults need to follow is The Care Act 2014. This protects adults who might be less able to keep themselves safe, like elderly, or adults with additional needs. The ERSAB checks that adults are being looked after properly and that the law of the Care Act 2014 is being followed.
Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP)
Making Safeguarding Personal is an initiative which aims to develop an ‘outcome focus’ to safeguarding work and a range of responses to support people to improve or resolve their circumstances. MSP in its simplest form means putting the person at the centre of everything we do during a safeguarding enquiry, from the very beginning to the very end. MSP seeks to achieve:
- A personalised approach that enables safeguarding to be done with, not to, people.
- Practice that focuses on achieving meaningful improvement to people’s circumstances rather than just on ‘investigation’ and ‘conclusion’.
- An approach that utilises social work skills rather than just ‘putting people through a process’.
- An approach that enables practitioners, families, teams and safeguarding adult boards to know what difference has been made.
What does Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) look like?
The approaches of agencies and services to adult safeguarding should be person-led and outcome-focused.
The Care Act 2014 emphasises a personalised approach to adult safeguarding that is led by the individual, not by the process. It is vital that the adult feels that they are the focus and they have control over the process. Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) is not simply about gaining an individual’s consent, although that is important, but also about hearing people’s views about what they want as an outcome. This means that people are given opportunities at all stages of the safeguarding process to say what they would like to change. This might be about not having further contact with a person who poses a risk to them, changing an aspect of their care plan, asking that someone who has hurt them apologises, or pursuing the matter through the criminal justice system.
Operationally, how will this safeguard adults with care and support needs?
Making Safeguarding Personal is not about putting you through a process, it is about having a conversation with you or your representative to ask what has happened.
We will:
- ask if you require any immediate support to keep yourself safe
- explain how safeguarding works
- ask you what you would like to happen. Support you in a way to give you choice and control to improve your quality of life, wellbeing, and safety.
We promise to:
- listen to you
- understand your views and wishes
- take you seriously
- treat you with respect
- support you to feel as safe as you want
- support you to make your own decisions
- keep you informed and involved
- tell you what will happen next.
Making Safeguarding Personal Easy Read - ERSAB
Making Safeguarding Personal Outcome Summary ERSAB
For further details relating to Making Safeguarding Personal please visit the websites listed in the Useful links section below.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005
The MCA helps and protects people who have limited mental capacity to make decisions. This includes people who have limited capacity due to illness, injury or disability. The MCA aims to help these people to make decisions or to be involved in decisions as much as possible.
Mental Capacity Act Codes of Practice
GOV.UK - Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice
Mental Capacity Assessment Form March 22 (word 58kb)
Safer Recruitment (DBS)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was established under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and merges the functions previously carried out by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). The DBS is responsible for the following processes:
Disclosure – the DBS searches police records and, in relevant cases, barred list information, and then issues a DBS certificate to the applicant and employer to help them make an informed recruitment decision.
Referrals – Referrals are made to the DBS when an employer or an organisation, for example, a regulatory body, has concerns that a person has caused harm or poses a future risk of harm to vulnerable groups including children. In these circumstances the employer legally must or regulatory body may, make a referral to the DBS.
Barring – the DBS makes its decisions using barring decision-making processes specifically developed for this use and approved by the DBS Board. The barring decision-making processes for considering discretionary (non-automatic barring) cases have been developed to ensure all DBS decisions are fair, consistent and thorough.
See below for the ERSAB DBS Guidance:
ERSAB DBS Referral for Barring Procedure Guidance 2021 (pdf 824kb)
For further information please visit the Disclosure and Barring Service website.
Working principles
These have been agreed between the Yorkshire and Humber Safeguarding Adults Boards, LSCPs, CSPs and Humberside Police
The following document is to be used when managing a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR), Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) or a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) alongside a police investigation by Humberside Police.
Managing a SAR, CSPR or a DHR alongside Humberside Police
ERSAB multi-agency procedures for responding to adults at risk of harm and abuse
ERSAB Multi-agency Procedures for Responding to Adults at Risk of Harm and Abuse (pdf 2.2mb)
Provider Support, Quality Improvement and Organisational Safeguarding Procedure(s): Pathway, Procedure and Toolkit.
Please Note: this procedure is under review and will be available soon.
For the management and improvement of performance; provider support; escalation of safeguarding and organisational abuse concerns, within residential and nursing care homes, domiciliary care providers and other commissioned health and social care providers in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Vulnerable Adults Risk Management (VARM)
The VARM process provides a framework for professionals to facilitate effective multi-agency working with adults at risk of harm, who are deemed to have mental capacity and who are at risk of serious harm or death through self-neglect, refusal of services and/or high levels of risk taking activity.
Appendix 3 - Adult at Risk Letter
Appendix 5 - Vulnerable Adults Risk Management Tool
VARM Procedure - Version 1.1 - Jan 2019
Service Quality Feedback Form
A Service Quality Feedback form should be used when a low-level concern is identified (i.e. isolated incident, no harm-low risk, no complicating factors) regarding how a client’s care is being provided. If you or the service user have concerns about the quality or safety of the service/provider. Low level concerns or issues identified should be addressed directly with the provider initially if appropriate alongside completing a Service Quality Feedback form.
Forensic Medical Examination of Adults
Across North Lincolnshire and East Riding of Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnerships a pilot project is operating in the area of Forensic Examination of adults.
A Forensic Medical Examination of Adults Inter-agency Policy has been created to provide an outline of the process that will be undertaken in relation to the consideration of, examination and reporting when adults at risk of harm have sustained an injury due to physical abuse or neglect and outline the governance framework that supports the pilot.
The aim of the project is to provide consistent service delivery with agreed coordinated response times and effective communication with relevant system partners, including with two Local Authorities and Humberside Police.
This policy applies to all staff undertaking forensic examinations for adults and any staff members involved in any part of the process including decision making panels.
Please see below for the Forensic Examination of Adults Inter-agency Policy:
Multi-agency Forensic Examiner Policy
A patient information leaflet is also available to understand more about the Forensic Medical Examination:
Patient Information Leaflet Forensic Medical Examination
This is also available in Easy Read. Please see below:
Report a concern
01377 241273
amph.outofhoursteam@eastriding.gov.uk